Blue Stars

Unexpected Brilliance

Among the kaleidoscope of stars, brilliant blue stars are of special interest. They shine so
brightly that they should burn up their fuel in just a few million years. But they’re still everywhere, as if
recently created.

The more we learn about the universe, the more we marvel at the extraordinary
number and diversity of stars. They come in a wide range of sizes, colors, and
temperatures; and each star has its own story to tell.

The origin and continued existence of such endless variety defies easy explanation.
Some burn so brightly that they should soon run out of fuel, while others are
relatively cold and would seem to last forever. One type of star in particular—the
blue star—is a big problem if you assume the universe came into being 13.7 billion
years ago.

Problem: Blue Stars Burn Up Their Fuel Quickly

Based on our current understanding of the nuclear “furnace” that fires each
star, all stars must eventually burn out, some faster than others. (Indeed,
only red dwarfs have enough fuel to burn 13 billion years, while the others
should have burned out long ago.)

Astronomers have direct evidence that stars (including the sun) generally get
their energy from the fusion of hydrogen deep in their cores. Based on these
observations and a few basic physical assumptions, we can estimate how long
a star’s energy can last (and thus the maximum age of the star).

Perhaps the most interesting are the brilliant blue stars, which have lots
of fuel but are so hot that they consume their fuel quickly. In fact, the hottest
blue stars could last only a few million years at best. Both creationists and
evolutionists acknowledge this fact.

Astronomers agree that blue stars could only last a few million years at best.
So why do we see blue stars throughout our universe if it is nearly 14 billion years old?

Yet blue stars are found throughout the universe in spiral galaxies, both nearby
and far away. This is not a problem for biblical creationists, who date all
stars at around 6,000 years. But it creates a big conundrum for astronomers
who reject the Bible’s history.

To explain the prevalence of blue stars, these astronomers must assume they
have been forming spontaneously throughout most of history, even in recent times.
Despite their diligent search, however, they have never observed one of these
blue stars forming—or any other star, for that matter. Nevertheless, they must
believe that stars form continually because their theory demands it.

Proposed Solution: Condensing Gas Clouds

Where and how do stars form, then, according to evolutionary theories?

Astronomers have found huge amounts of gas within the arms of spiral galaxies
(called the interstellar medium, or ISM). This gas has the same main ingredient
as stars—hydrogen. The gas (and dust) clouds are very clumpy, with a wide range
in density. Given the similar chemical composition of gas clouds and stars,
astronomers assume that the more dense clumps of gas contract under their own
gravity to form new stars.

Think about how different these two things are. Gas clouds are millions of
times larger than stars, and they have much lower temperatures and densities.
The densest clouds in space may contain a few thousand particles per cubic inch
(103 atoms per cubic cm).

By contrast, even the air we breathe contains a quadrillion times more particles
than interstellar gas clouds (1018 particles per cubic cm). The sun’s average
density is a million quadrillion times denser than gas clouds (about 1024 atoms
per cubic cm).

Obviously, the contraction of a gas cloud to form a star would require a tremendous
decrease in size and volume. Gas in the ISM is very cold (typically -250ºF,
or 100K), while stars are very hot (up to 70,000ºF [40,000K] on the surface
of some blue stars, with interior temperatures reaching tens of millions K).
These vast differences must disappear before a cloud could condense to form
a star.

This process may sound simple, but it is fraught with problems. The largest
problem is that a gas cloud is so spread out that its gravity is miniscule.
As thin as the gas is, it does have some pressure, and the pressure pushing
particles apart tends to exceed the gravity that pulls them together. If the
cloud were to shrink, the pressure would increase to cause the cloud to re-expand.

Theoretical Limits to a Collapsible Gas Cloud

If a cloud were small enough, gravity could take over and cause the cloud to
contract. How small must the cloud be to collapse under its own gravity? The
astronomer Sir James Jeans asked and answered this question in 1902. He found
that the cloud must be somewhat larger than a star, but many orders of magnitude
smaller than any observed cloud for this to happen. That is, no observed gas
cloud is even close to the Jeans length.

Astronomers have long understood this fundamental problem, so they suggest
that some outside mechanism may compress a gas cloud down to the Jeans length
so that gravity can finish the process. Astronomers have suggested a number
of mechanisms, such as the shock wave from a nearby supernova explosion.

The problem is that all of these mechanisms require preexisting stars that
can explode and generate new stars. While this mechanism might possibly work
in the universe today, it likely cannot produce new stars at the rapid rate
required by modern evolutionary theories. Nor can it explain the origin of the
first stars.

Appeal to Unknown Mechanisms

To solve this problem, astronomers suggest that the first stars formed in a
burst of activity in the early universe triggered by some unknown mechanism.

Do astronomers have any evidence for such a mechanism early in the universe?
They claim that they do. For example, since the collapse of gas clouds should
produce stars of all masses, astronomers expect to detect light from the most
massive, hot, bright stars—blue stars—wherever much star formation has occurred.

As predicted, very distant galaxies (and hence galaxies from the early universe)
are systematically brighter than nearby galaxies. Astronomers call these “starburst”
galaxies and say the blue color is evidence for explosive star formation early
in the universe.

Furthermore, though astronomers have not observed the actual contraction of
a gas cloud into a star, they have identified a number of different kinds of
odd star-like entities that they view as snapshots of stars in various stages
of formation.

Despite these claims, we should note that astronomers think that in the universe
today, condensed clouds overwhelmingly produce low-mass red stars, but in the
early universe they formed massive blue stars.

So evolutionary astronomers must ultimately rely upon some unknown mechanism
to form the first stars in a manner that is very different from the inferred
mechanism for present-day star formation. But when did unknown mechanisms and
unobserved processes become scientific concepts?

Rather than appealing to unknown natural forces at work in the past, creation
astronomers depend on the Book written by the infallible Creator who was there
and made the stars. As we would expect, modern observations about the star-filled
universe confirm the Lord’s creativity; and blue stars in particular are consistent
with the Bible’s account of a young universe.

Time is not a Blue Star’s Friend

All stars eventually “burn out” if given enough
time. Blue stars burn very hot and quickly compared to other types of stars.
As a result, astronomers agree that blue stars can last a period of only several
million years before they “burn out.” The proposed age of the universe is
nearly 14 billion years old . . . so why are brilliant blue stars still shining
across our universe?

Answers Magazine

January – March 2011

This issue of Answers points a telescope at the heavens. Explore evidences that the universe is young, from blue stars to spiral galaxies. Get up-to-date on the search for extraterrestrial life, and be the first to read Dr. Jason Lisle’s new model explaining distant starlight. You also don’t want to miss articles on living fossils and other wonders of our own planet that point to a recent creation and global Flood.

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Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus on providing answers to questions about the Bible—particularly the book of Genesis—regarding key issues such as creation, evolution, science, and the age of the earth.